In an automatic transmission of a vehicle, plural shift ranges are set in advance and an operating device for selecting and operating these plural shift ranges is disposed in the vehicle. A shift lever device is widely used as this type of operating device, and an example thereof is disclosed in Patent Document 1 described below.
The shift lever device disclosed in Patent Document 1 will be described briefly below.
The shift lever device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is disposed with a bracket. The bracket is disposed with a pair of wall portions that face each other in the substantial left-right direction of the vehicle. End portions of these side portions at the substantial rear side of the vehicle are integrally coupled together by a rear wall (in Patent Document 1, names are not particularly given to the wall portions and the rear wall; rather, they are all collectively referred to as the “bracket”).
Moreover, a plate is disposed on the outer side of each wall portion of the bracket. Each of the plates is fixed to the corresponding bracket by screws. These plates are further fixed to a steering hanger bracket and the like. Thus, the shift lever device is attached to the vehicle.
A shift lever (in Patent Document 1, this is called an “operating lever”) is disposed inside the bracket, that is, between both wall portions. An insertion hole is formed in the proximal end portion of the shift lever. The insertion hole penetrates the shift lever along the direction in which both wall portions face each other. Support sites including holes are formed in both wall portions in correspondence to the insertion hole, and slits are formed in both plates in correspondence to the insertion hole.
Further, a support shaft is inserted through the slit in one of the plates. The distal end side of the support shaft inserted through the slit in one of the plates is passed through the hole of the support site of one of the wall portions, through the insertion hole in the shift lever, through the hole of the support site of the other of the wall portions, and through the slit in the other of the plates, and is fixed by a fastener. In this manner, the shift lever is rotatably supported about the support shaft by the support shaft, both of whose ends are supported in both support sites.
Further, a link attachment portion is disposed in the shift lever, and one end of a transmitting member such as a wire is anchored to this link attachment portion. The other end of the transmitting member is directly or indirectly connected to an automatic transmission, and when the shift lever is rotated about the support shaft, the transmitting member is displaced and the automatic transmission is operated in an amount equal to this displacement.    Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 2002-29275